French and Irish in college?

happy_feet

hey guys!
Basically, im seriously thinking about doing irish and french in college, but im a bit worried I might find it really hard. Im in 6th year, and i do honours in both. I got b's in both in my junior, and I do fairly well in class tests, 60-75% on average, and I never really revise for them.

I asked my french teacher, whos a bit old, and she just said she cant really remember what it was like...(errr..?) and my irish teacher just said ''yeah its different'' so neither of them were a great help!

So basically i just wana know how i would find it, because i really cant afford to fail a degree because my parents simply wont have the money for me to repeat, or start something new from scratch!

Any help would be appreciated :D

Fad

As long as you get the matriculation requirements you should be fine (An long as you put the work in!!!!!!).

djcervi

Hey! I'm a 1st year studying TSM French in Trinity. It's my 1st week on the course, as I transferred from a (slightly) similar course two weeks ago. In 1st year you have lectures in Grammar, Texts (poetry, novels, plays and film study) and Intro to Contemporary France (study of french society so things like the landscape, French 'ghettos' and historical events which shaped France).You also have small tutorials in written, text analysis and oral language (with a French assistant en francais). Everything else is usually done through English, except Contemporary France lecture, as a French lecturer is in charge of it. However she uses powerpoint presentations and speaks slow enough for everybody, and notes are availiable online with vocabulary. IMO i think the French dept in Trinity expects a lot from its students, but seriously don't be alarmed by this at all! It's good in one way, I suppose, as it ensures constant motivation and you come out of college with good language skills. The staff, in general, are nice and helpful. There are a few who are a bit eccentric and abrupt at times, but the best advice is to just take it with a pinch of salt. Normal week in terms of work to do: so far for me it's been doing listening exercises on internet and talking about them in French oral tutorial; a 200 word essay in French on the topic discussed in the 2 written tutorials that week (you have a week to do it and your best 8 essays go towards continual assessment for final year grade); reading of literature for tutorials over 3 weeks and tutorials will guide you with literature (you'll have an essay on one of the terms literatures to do over christmas in English or French). You are also expected to use language labs to use computers for reading French online and grammar exercises, but I haven't really done much of that so far 2bh.. but I will do someday :P. On the social side our French class rep has organised 2 class parties and is organising a mystery bus tour for one of these weekends. All in all I've no major complaints and I'm happy now with the course. If you like French in school and are good at the language you shouldn't have any major problems in 1st year. Literature may be a bit daunting, but it's somewhat manageable.
Throughout your degree you need to spend at least two months in France, just to immerse yourself in the language. You need to do the same for Irish in the Gaeltacht.
I don't know anything really about Irish, but I haven't heard anything bad so far. feel free to pm if you have any questions.

pathway33

Apologies in advance if the font is funny. I copied from a word document.
Although it’s generally not a good idea to look at third level exam papers before you study the course because it can scare the bejaney out of you, it can give an indication of what to expect.
Some colleges exam papers can only be accessed by registered students but others like NUI Maynooth and NUI Galway are public access. For NUI Maynooth. Go to www.nuim.ie . On the right click ‘library’. On the next page click ‘exam papers’. Select ‘french’ from the drop down list.
Here’s some sample questions. Some exams ask you to do 2 questions. Answer one in English and one in French. Your choice which one you do in French or English.
Here’s some samples
Answer in French or English.
1. Discuss the role of destiny in Antigone
Or
Is it possible to describe Antigone as the battle of the sexes?
2. Discuss the notion of ‘poetics of place’ with reference to one French region or department of your choice
3. Give a brief description of the main features of the Nouvelle Vague
4. Outline the role played by Marcel Carne or Jean Renoir in the history of French cinema
5. At the bicentenary celebration of the French Revolution in 1989. Mitterrand proclaimed that 1789 should be remembered as a revolution of the rights of humanity. Do you agree? Discuss.
6. ‘The Dreyfus Affair is one of the most talked about moments in French history’. Why is this so? Discuss.
7. Write an essay on one of the following
The legacy of the Enlightenment in French society
The political turmoil of the seventy year revolution
Attitudes towards immigration in france

happy_feet

djcervi wrote: »

Hey! I'm a 1st year studying TSM French in Trinity. It's my 1st week on the course, as I transferred from a (slightly) similar course two weeks ago. In 1st year you have lectures in Grammar, Texts (poetry, novels, plays and film study) and Intro to Contemporary France (study of french society so things like the landscape, French 'ghettos' and historical events which shaped France).You also have small tutorials in written, text analysis and oral language (with a French assistant en francais). Everything else is usually done through English, except Contemporary France lecture, as a French lecturer is in charge of it. However she uses powerpoint presentations and speaks slow enough for everybody, and notes are availiable online with vocabulary. IMO i think the French dept in Trinity expects a lot from its students, but seriously don't be alarmed by this at all! It's good in one way, I suppose, as it ensures constant motivation and you come out of college with good language skills. The staff, in general, are nice and helpful. There are a few who are a bit eccentric and abrupt at times, but the best advice is to just take it with a pinch of salt. Normal week in terms of work to do: so far for me it's been doing listening exercises on internet and talking about them in French oral tutorial; a 200 word essay in French on the topic discussed in the 2 written tutorials that week (you have a week to do it and your best 8 essays go towards continual assessment for final year grade); reading of literature for tutorials over 3 weeks and tutorials will guide you with literature (you'll have an essay on one of the terms literatures to do over christmas in English or French). You are also expected to use language labs to use computers for reading French online and grammar exercises, but I haven't really done much of that so far 2bh.. but I will do someday :P. On the social side our French class rep has organised 2 class parties and is organising a mystery bus tour for one of these weekends. All in all I've no major complaints and I'm happy now with the course. If you like French in school and are good at the language you shouldn't have any major problems in 1st year. Literature may be a bit daunting, but it's somewhat manageable.
Throughout your degree you need to spend at least two months in France, just to immerse yourself in the language. You need to do the same for Irish in the Gaeltacht.
I don't know anything really about Irish, but I haven't heard anything bad so far. feel free to pm if you have any questions.

thanks a mill for that! hopefully ill just go for it and not find it too hard!

anyone ever done/doing irish?

implausible

If you love these languages and have an aptitude for them, go for it! Do you know what college you want to go to? Research what the course content is for each.

If you choose an Arts degree in one of the NUIs, you will cover 3/4 subjects in first year. That way, if you find the going is too tough or that you don't love as much as you thought, you will have another option or two to fall back again.

I did Irish in college, and my Irish was all 'school Irish' (with 3 summers in the Gaeltacht thrown in). I didn't find the course that bad, though there is a difference between studying a short story and an entire novel in Irish. We also had lots of grammar tutorials, which I found useful and not too difficult. The hardest part was Old Irish:(

Micilin Muc

As a tutor in a 3rd level Irish Department, I reckon if you can manage a B1 or B2 in Higher Level LC Irish without learning it all off by heart, 1st year Irish in college shouldn't be too difficult. It's difficult to do badly in Irish in college, unless you really do no work.

happy_feet

thanks just worried you know with all this recession talk i just really cant afford to fail a degree!

and im thinking of ucd and then (hopefully!) doing my h.dip!

thanks for all help guys

degausserxo

Hey, I was in TCD doing Irish and German TSM up until a few weeks ago (absolutely HATED German, and I couldn't swap courses). The Irish department there is absolutely brilliant - if you've an interest in the language you'll do really well. For the first 4 weeks of first year you're in Irish six hours a week, then after that it's dropped to five. You do a bit of everything - a teanglann (I did Uladh, which was great - it's basically a 'talk like you're from Donegal for an hour' class) for one hour once a week, then Pobal agus Teanga, which is basically Stair na Teanga, but more interesting, Scéalaíocht Chéitinn (Keating's Stories, you might remember some of them from primary school - the king with the horses' ears, that sort of thing), nualitríocht (mostly short stories, a fair bit of Pádraig Pearse's stuff as well.. and the lecturer is an absolute doll.. terrifying, but a doll!) and Ceart na Teanga Scríofa (basically what the name of the module says!). That's only for the first semester though.. the second has stuff like an Dán Díreach, but I dropped out before I could find out what it was like..

implausible

happy_feet wrote: »

thanks just worried you know with all this recession talk i just really cant afford to fail a degree!

and im thinking of ucd and then (hopefully!) doing my h.dip!

thanks for all help guys

If you're thinking of doing the H.Dip and have Irish in your degree, you will find it easier to get into the Irish language H.Dip (ATO) than the other H.Dip courses (I should be calling it the PGDE by now.....).

sabiansoldier

Im doing both...its honestly pretty good...apart from like the analysis and complete and utter ripping apart of grammar in irish and the history of womens rights in 18th century france,,, Id say I like it a lot if your inclined towards languages go for it.

happy_feet

deemark wrote: »

If you're thinking of doing the H.Dip and have Irish in your degree, you will find it easier to get into the Irish language H.Dip (ATO) than the other H.Dip courses (I should be calling it the PGDE by now.....).

can u explain that to me in easier terms?!